Downward spiral
by Szept
Summary: One bad decision is all it takes to put a person on the path of pain and self destruction. Lies, deception and violence is nothing new to Vi, for no matter how much she tries to put these behind her, they always seem to find her.
1. 1 - 1

Another sleepless night is definitely not how Vi wants to spend her time, it seems like it had become a pattern in her life recently. Yeah, sure, sometimes she had to cut her sleep and respond to an emergency... operative word being _sometimes_. She never complained nor will she, but the Enforcer is tired, more so than she remembers ever being. She narrowly manages not crashing into another car that she can swear was not there a second before. What does she even have the beacon for if people don't get out of her way? She has always loved the fact that city never really sleeps but it only irks her now. She rubs her bloodshot eyes as she tries focusing on the road, but to no anvil.

"I fucking swear, when I get that bitch I'll smash her head in." However much that would disgrace her and her carrier.

And it would be worth it.

Ever since Jinx arrived in Piltover, Vi could see everything she worked so hard for literally falling apart in the mad girl's wake. Crime that Caitlyn worked years to wipe out resurfaced in days. She wrecked Jayce's lab, destroying who knows how many priceless prototypes (some of which Vi helped create), destroyed treasury, and also engaged in random acts of violence and vandalism all around the city. She didn't hit the academy yet but they already began securing it, what with it being one of the most likely places the criminal would want to destroy. Everyone feared for their lives, and no one dared stay out of home for longer than necessary. For all the good it did. Jinx is not picky about the buildings she levels.

The entire city in chaos, all because of one person.

Vi comes to a screeching halt in the front of police tape, puts her gauntlets on and gets out of the car, only then does she notice where she is. She didn't really bother connecting address with location but looking at the complex in front of her she feels like an idiot for it.

Piltover's fireworks factory.

Well shit.

At least she's not feeling sleepy anymore. Tired as hell but Vi can feel the adrenaline coursing through her body already. She briskly walks over to officer in charge, giving nods to the rest. They all look like they need a week off. It's no wonder, they've all been working double shifts to contain resurfaced Piltover crime, what with Caitlyn relentlessly trying to work out a pattern, plan, _something_, to catch Jinx. Their trap at the treasury was a spectacular failure, but it was also an eye opener, that they are dealing with someone willing to die in attempted escape rather than get caught.

"Derricks, what's the situation," She asks as she reaches the other officer, a well built man of average height and dark hair. Competent, curt, and ideal for his position.

"Enforcer," he greets her back "Blue haired female spotted in factory's office building roughly fifteen minutes ago, carrying various weapons. Civilians evacuated and vacated from vicinity. Thirty three officers on scene including you. We closed off two emergency entrances and main one here. Sheriff is on her way as is backup, firefighters and paramedics too."

"Jinx will just blow her way out, no point in guarding doors."

"It's for keeping people out, we can't secure the entire area with what we've got."

Vi growls in frustration, she should have realized that herself, and follows Derricks as he motions towards factory plans, laid upon police car mask.

"Workers told me that depot is full to the brink, was to be emptied this morning." Vi's eyes widen at that piece of information. How did she know, how does she keep hitting them where it hurts the most at the worst moments possible?"Here, we can get there quickly with trucks when they arrive."

"And when is that?"

"Nine through thirteen minutes. Sheriff's orders are to stay put unless the situation escalates."

So Twerp will have been here for at least half an hour when backup arrives, given how she wasn't spotted right away. Half an hour of an insane pyromaniac in a fireworks factory, with the shipment nice and ready to blow up.

'Damn it.'

"You stay put, I'm going in." His brows furrow.

"Sheriff's orders are to wait for backup."

"Too long, every minute counts. Cupcake knows that, and I'm tougher than you guys are." She throws over her shoulder, already running towards entrance. 'And I've got a score to settle with her.'

Derricks sighs and takes out his radio to inform Sheriff of this development.

Vi does not immediately go in direction of depot the moment she's inside. Jinx trademark neon pink scribbles 'adoring' the walls lead her deeper into the complex instead. Paint. Of course she would find her time to vandalize walls in a middle of a break in. Small mercies, she didn't go on rampage immediately thanks to which employes got out unharmed. Another thing about Jinx, she doesn't seem to care for killing, just wrecking havoc, casualties being people unfortunate enough to get in crossfire.

No more than toys for her sick amusement.

Reception, offices, thorough dimly lit hallways ,up the stairs, two floors, hallways, offices, canteen, nothing disturbed, nothing destroyed, only pink smears on the walls. It's silent, eerily so, especially considering who is it Vi looks for. She finally comes to a stop before the door marked with a giant X, directors office. Enforcer rolls her shoulders and braces herself for a fight.

The door shatter and fly off its hinges as she smashes herself through it and immediately takes cover behind her gauntlets. Nothing. No Jinx. The hell was she led here for then? She inspects her surroundings and scowls as her eyes land upon a crude drawing of herself on the glass wall. She walks to the glass and looks out through it. Across the storage yard, with various containers strewn across, she sees a bright light in... production hall she thinks. Lone figure stands in front of the truck entrance. Scantly clad, blue haired, lithe and appearing to be in argument with her rocket launcher.

The figure turns her head towards offices and suddenly jumps up and enthusiastically waves at her in a mock greeting, shouting something Vi can't pick up, she can't see her expression but is sure it's one of maniacal glee, it always is. Wait. Jinx saw her, shit!

The pinkette charges her weapons and smashes through the glass just as a rocket passes by her face, blowing up behind her. Vi is sent soaring through the air to the concrete, two floors down onto the parking lot, she manages to land (crash really) without breaking anything but feels the impact bruising her bones.

She pulls herself up, ignoring protesting muscles and is immediately forced to bolt sideways as another rocket flies in her way, bringing down the wall behind her. Near miss, way too close. But she isn't sent to the ground this time and charges towards the criminal, who in the meanwhile has switched her weapon of choice to the pink minigun. She activates her blast shield as she goes, just in the nick of time, as she hears bullets impact it. While her left hand is occupied by protecting herself she charges the right gauntlet to close the remaining distance, knowing that when her shield is broken, she is sure to take a shot despite her head and torso being protected by her babies, Jinx's hailstorm of bullets is too much even for them.

Finally in the range, she drops her guard and releases energy pent up in her gauntlet, propelling her towards the bluette. Seeing this, Jinx throws herself out of the way and grabs one of her chompers which she throws at Vi who slammed into a wall in front of which maniac stood seconds ago, making a hole in it. She quickly brings her gauntlets in front of herself and reflects the projectile towards hole she made. Again Vi shields her face from shrapnel, the rest of her body protected enough for her not to care much for it. Jinx used this momentarily distraction to whip out Zap. This, Vi knows she can't ignore, bullets are fair game for her but were energy blast from that gun hit her she would be immobilized and squirming on the ground, her gloves would go to shit too were she to cover herself with them, circuits would fry and she can't let that happen.

So she dives inside the hole she made, hearing a whizzing sound just behind her. She regards her surroundings and swears, yeah, this is the production hall, full of shelves with tons of boxes full of black powder and dyes, half made fireworks lying on worktables, it's a miracle it didn't all blow up with that grenade.

"Hey Fats, playing hide and seek now? I'm a champ."

"Shut up twat!" She can't fight here, her own gauntlets can easily set the materials off, were she to use them to their full potential, as she is sure to do.

"Oh come on that's just rude, calling me names." Shouts Jinx as she backs away towards factory storage, aiming Zap in general direction of the building Vi hides in, she checked depot before and is giddy for seeing it go up in flames, all the pretty fireworks just waiting for a hero to free them. But priorities must be kept and if Fat Hands wants to play then she can't possibly refuse her. And she loves playing hide and seek, almost as much as blowing stuff up, or tag, with guns and such. She giggles at the thought, so much fun and all at once!

"Catch me if you can!" She shouts as she turns around and speeds off towards warehouse, it being an awesome place to hide in her mind, full of possibilities.

Vi crashes through the wall good twenty meters away from her previously made entrance, only to see the mad girl running with speed she is doubtful to ever achieve herself. Straight into Fireworks storage.

"Cait's gonna kill me." She murmurs, shakes her head to clear it of thoughts and cautiously approaches the building, running from one container to another. Watching for lights, since the warehouse is not lit, halfway there is when the first rocket comes, making her dash to side and thankful to the universe for container it hit not being full of explosives.

"Come on, find me!" Shouts the maniac as Vi is almost in range of her charge. She grits her teeth and runs straight into warehouse, mad girl indeed not shooting and in hiding. She pulls down her goggles and hits the night vision switch on the side, useful thing she and Jayce built months ago. Green tinted vision of what is inside makes Vi trip over her legs.

The place is full of fireworks to the fucking brink, to the ceiling fifteen meters high. What the hell, isn't there some kind of regulation against that? 'Focus, get Jinx, she blows this up and the whole district will be in fire.'

She looks up, to the catwalks from which the bluette must have been shooting, but she's not there, still, only so much time to run so she can't have run off too far into warehouse. With that in mind she marches in direction she can see the stairs connecting to pathways above her head, somewhere in the middle of lanes created by packs of violate materials. She checks the time on her gauntlet and can scarcely believe that only six minutes have passed since she entered the complex.

Is that a gun barrel sticking out from behind the corner? Vi smiles as she realizes that while she can see mostly well, the Loose Cannon has no way of seeing her. With a jerk of her hand she sets her gauntlet for a tracking charge and with a shout sets it off, knocking aside cargo in her way, some of it coming down from top of the piles to crashing behind her.

Only to be greeted by Jinx's minigun strapped to a support pillar, into which she charged, punching a hole through it. The roof gives off a strained sound and Vi looks around wildly.

"Hey idiot!" Up "Zap!"

Every muscle in Vi's body screams in agony along with the Enforcer herself, as what feels like her nerves being burned simultaneously throughout every inch of her being continue soaring through her body. Her muscles keep working on their own accord, making the pinkette thrash uncontrollably on the floor. It goes on for what feels like forever but when it finally stops Vi realizes she can't move any longer, all her (already lacking) energy completely spent, it's the same case for her goggles which went dead after electricity boiled its battery. She only manages to fall flat on her back, and finds herself being stripped of her headgear. She blinks couple times, not seeing a thing, while feeling Jinx sitting on her stomach, and then she sees them, these two red irises, seemingly glinting in the dark.

"Really Fats, I know you're stupid but that was on a new level. I mean, durr, your name right? Seriously though, that was ridiculous. Like, hah! You should have seen your face when you got hit!" Owner of said irises says in entirely too cheery manner, while strapping her minigun back by her waist. What does she mean see? How could she see her?

Did she turn off her gauntlets' lights? She honestly can't remember and... oh, she can see more and more as her eyes adjust to shadows cast by dim blue lights of both her inventions and Zap. Indeed she forgot.

"Piss off twerp."

"Such manners! Gotta make up for Hat Lady's company, hah, no really, where is she anyway? Nah, nah doesn't matter. Now. Where did I... aha!" Vi face pales as she sees the remote in maniac's hands. Fingers twirling around switch.

"Jinx you retarded shit don't you dare use that." Time, she needs time for Cupcake.

"Yeah, no I don't think so." Answers the criminal as she starts dragging Vi towards entrance. The Pinkette feels entirely too helpless to her liking. "I wanna show you something, so just shut up and- damn it you really are fat, shut up and watch." She finishes as she puts Vi's back against a wall near the door, so that she faces production hall and may see the show Jinx have readied. Her ever present grin morphs into something more... gentle, or maybe just less insane, Vi knows not. Then she puts her thumb on the remote's switch.

"For fuc-"

And then they are both blown away by the shock wave of explosives and fireworks combined that Jinx set up in the warehouse beforehand.

Jinx lands on her back with a painful grunt and just lies there, dazed. Allowing herself to marvel at fires in the sky before she feels one of them whizzing just past her ear, yup, time to bail. She sits up, dizzy and ears ringing. Oh she will be one big bruise in a couple of minutes, the girl is fairly sure she has Fishbones printed on her back after that landing though she can't feel much pain by now. Where is the Pinktard?

Aha! Crushed against one of the containers, passed out, must have hit her head, if the blood oozing on her face is any clue. The criminal groans as she sees that, all her hard work and Fat Hands won't even see it. Ugh. She stands up and assesses her own body, cuts, bruises, burns, all is good, she can move. But Vi can't. Well she can't let her just burn here, that would spoil all her fun. With that in mind she runs over to the limp Enforcer and after some effort manages to throw her over her shoulders. Swaying on her legs she runs to the sewer entrance through which she found her way in.

"Umpf, no really, she must cut on doughnuts, hey Fishbones, mind giving me a hand here?"

"You could loose her gauntlets." Idiot.

"Or I could loose you, how would you like that?" There is no way she can leave Vi's best friends here like that. "How would she chase me without them?"

"I think you just don't want to hurt her feelings."

"I'll hurt your feelings if you don't shut up." She spits back as she drops Enforcer through the hole in the ground, she hopes she didn't break anything, that would be annoying. She turns around and gives the flaming show all around her a wistful look. She pouts as she thinks of her mistake, wrong remote, she was supposed to blow up warehouse AFTER the production hall, not the other way around. Eh, details, she grins as she pulls out the right device and presses the switch, Eyes full of mirth as the sky is filled with even more colors. Oh how she would love to stay and watch, but again, priorities. Fats needs help.

And so she turns back, then jumps into the dark.

* * *

Share your thoughts?

Revised on 03.12.2012 with help of UnderminetheAuthority (The hell did I miss all the shit in there I will never know).


	2. 1 - 2

She sits in silence, as does the rest of fast response squad in the truck Caitlyn finds herself in. Fingers caress her rifle, a sign of nervousness that overtook her when first report came in. The woman leans back in her seat and places the butt of her weapon on the floor. She really wants to load it but forces herself to only rest her left hand on the magazine belt. Regulations that she herself put in place regarding carrying ammo are there for a reason.

She manages not to fondle the barrel for entire ten seconds before she begins anew. The stillness is driving her insane. And knowing that she can do noting for next ten minutes doesn't help in that regard.

Sheriff rubs her stinging eyes, she needs a day off, or two. She took to sleeping through day in order to be ready for madness that inevitably came at night. Jinx mostly causes havoc after dark, not exclusively, for sure, but mostly. Enough to warrant her new schedule. She suggested Vi doing the same but the pinkette refused. Seeing as she did a lot to contain resurfaced crime Caitlyn can't rally complain. She pulls through. As the entire Force does. It must be enough until she devises a way to end this chaos.

She snaps her attention to the ringing at her side, radiophone. Derricks was to call her were situation to escalate, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach emerging as she picks the handset up to her ear.

"Sheriff on the line, what's the situation?"

"Officer Vi had just entered the complex. Orders?"

The brunette's mind goes blank for a second before singular thoughts begin cracking through.

Vi. Jinx. Fireworks factory. Housing estates. Jinx.

She blinks couple times before she notices her white knuckles clenched around the rifle, along with others in truck giving her curious looks. She loosens her grip on the weapon and silently sighs.

When her office was called with information about the Loose Canon strolling through the factory's grounds she knew straight away that this would end in disaster. Either with loss of life or colossal property damage. While she hates seeing what that maniac's escapades do to her city, she joined the Force to protect citizens of Piltover first, and their possessions later. Thus it was not really a question for her what to do when faced with choice between immediately trying to apprehend the criminal or ensuring that no collateral damage will be done. Given the location, given how Jinx disregards not only lives of others but also her own. If her psychological profile is to be believed, which Caitlyn doubts. She had dealt with many nutcases but this is beyond anything she had ever had on her hands.

Every crime has a motive. There is no exception. But when that driving force is just twisted sense of humor and craving of destruction just for the sake of creating chaos. All of that propelled by insanity? How is she to use this against her? How is she even to think of a decent trap when one day it's knocking over trash bins and letting the dogs in shelter loose. Then another it's bombing the town hall and ambushing police convoys, injuring/killing both the criminals and police. She brought down Piltover's treasury without sparing a thought to money inside. Next day she would shoot pigeons on Tower Clock. With her rocket launcher. Only to drop by aforementioned animal shelter, bringing with her stray animals and then never appear there again.

A pattern of chaos, if such a thing exists. To effectively stall her rampage she would have to send patrols as thick as every square kilometer and she has no such resources.

Instead she has Vi. Every time Jinx's location is pinpointed she sends her, as good of a plan as she came up with as of yet besides protecting key points of the city. For whatever reason, the maniac seems to have made a point of deliberately taunting the pinkette. Only truly consistent course of action taken by her as of yet. It both helps and not that the Enforcer lets herself be affected by that. The Sheriff has never seen the other woman so driven, determined.

One could say she is emotionally compromised. One could say it's the only thing that keeps her going. One could also say that it's draining her too much for anyone's benefit.

Everyone would be right.

The problem with Vi is her recklessness, brutality and indeed her passion. While her straightforward approach is what made Caitlyn create enforcer's position, along with the shock response team, it proves to be... problematic when it comes to that specific criminal.

She needs a trap, an ingenious trap that would leave the Loose Canon with no way to run. Only how is she supposed to lay it when her best field officer is also a liability? Who else is to charge in, close the distance and act as a shield for the others?

"Sheriff?" Focus Cait, you've got work to do, you'll think on this later.

"Is the entire area vacated?"

"We have already evacuated the complex, neighboring blocks are in-progress."

"Focus on that. Do not follow the Enforcer unless fireworks go off, culprit is far more likely to make for an escape when faced with support. How many fire trucks are on their way?"

"Four."

"Call for more, at least another four. Assign as many people as possible to directing evacuation. Sheriff out."

"Yes Sheriff, Derricks over and out."

She puts the handset down and rubs her eyes. What a wonderful night it has shaped up to be.

* * *

And for some people indeed it has. Until being grandly wrecked by rumors spreading across the city. Jayce had plans, plans of conquest. Say what one will about Piltover's social gatherings but once planned, no petty (or not) criminal is reason enough to put a hold to them. This very party, that Defender of Tomorrow is at the moment attending, is in fact a charity ball. To call it off because of possible disturbance in form of an insane, uncouth and most importantly indecently clad girl would be indeed unthinkable!

Being an important social figure that he is, Futureman, as some fans lovingly call him, could not possibly refuse an invitation. What were to happen if Jinx decided to attend? Local city hero must have taken that into consideration when he pondered upon options he had. Spending a night at his laboratory, working long hours to eventually pass out on his workbench as he was sure to be completely absorbed by his current project (figuring out what to do with literal tons of scrap left in wake of a certain bluette's surprise visit). OR. He could let it wait for a day (or two) and enjoy himself tonight. Whilst making sure that fellow attendants are safe from rude interruptions.

As it stands, the inventor is the closest one to the radio, frown apparent on his brow.

"It appears that police has closed off Piltover's fireworks factory and evacuated the area, commissar at the scene advises all citizens to remain in their homes and everyone in a half kilometer radius of cordon to vacate their homes and area in order of speeding up the-" And so it went on.

Jayce unwraps his arm from his company's and gives her an apologetic smile. His supposed conquest of tonight, already gifted with a rose from his jacket, now woven into her hairdo. What a pity, alas, duty calls. He turns down the volume on the device, granting himself attention from everyone gathered.

"I'm sorry to announce that in light of unexpected events, I'm needed elsewhere. Forgive my leave but I can't with clear heart stay while Piltover is in danger."

And with that, sparing only a wink at his would-be night's companion, he marches in direction of exit. He makes only a couple steps before he hears enthusiastic applause and cheering from behind his back.

Oh yeah.

After turning the corner he breaks off into a run, simply grabbing his hammer from assistant bot that he left in the lounge. He designed it specifically for holding Mercury Hammer, crafted from nonconductors it's only supposed to turn off the shock mechanism when it sees him approaching. Perfect for parties, He can't really bring himself to leave his pride and joy without supervision. Viktor business taught him not to. He also programmed it with an autopilot, so to return home by itself, quite useful for situations just like this, when he doesn't have the time to care about such trivial things as his aide's whereabouts.

Without much care for the questioning looks he gets from passer-byes he quickly makes it to his destination. Elevators. He saw one on the verge of closing and threw his weapon to hold the door, just in time, as the butt of the hammer slid between nearly shut wings.

Jayce picks his weapon up and enters the cabin, immediately noticing the stares that an elderly couple and a security officer inside greet him with. He pointedly turns his back to them and presses the ground floor button, trying to maintain as much dignity as he can, feeling eyes boring into the back of his head, in search for distraction he focuses on the closing door.

And then the elevator music begins playing.

The moment that cabin comes to a stop and the doors opens, he bolts outside, only partially because he is in a hurry.

It has to be a record, the time it takes him to reach the parking lot, he jumps into his car and after brief search for keys, takes off, accompanied by screeching wheels.

It is couple minutes afterward that the night sky is suddenly ripped apart with hundreds of explosions. Jayce grits his teeth as he helplessly watches the fiery glow appear in the distance. So it's too late for him to save the day, at least five minutes too late, he'll probably get a speeding ticket anyway, he takes the shortest way, not the safest (and as such camera free). But it matters little, he can help with further evacuation should the fire spread. If Caitlyn doesn't find anything better for him to-

Is that Vi?

He hits the brakes and backs up a bit.

Yeah it is Vi.

Propped by a wall, bruised, unmoving and profusely bleeding Vi.

Jayce jumps out of his vehicle and runs up to the human shaped mess to check for her life signs. He sighs with relief when he finds them. Now, what did his mandatory medical course say about acquiring a medical attention for... Well, surely a head wound, and a concussion as a likely follow-up. Burns of first and second degree, countless nicks and bruises forming on most of the available space on the woman's skin.

He wants to take her to the hospital himself, it would be the fastest way but the man doesn't know whether or not he's supposed to move her, as it is possible for her to have suffered internal wounds. He's an inventor, not a doctor. He doesn't know how to act regarding such a case, for this reason he lets Vi lie in peace as he hurries off to use the (illegally, as some would argue) modified radiophone installed in his car.

* * *

'Disaster indeed,' Caitlyn thinks as she sweeps her eyes over the mess that the district has become. Factory itself is a goner, depot and production part of the complex are still supplying the night sky's spectacle, while the offices have already halfway crumbled after adding fire to already battered state of the building. What exactly happened she has no idea but that is just one of many questions whirling about in Sheriff's head.

Where is Vi is the most prominent of them all.

When explosion happened, brunette was almost on site, not an entire minute after that she had already began shouting orders, trying to overcome chaos that followed fires. Contain it enough to move into the inferno and confirm Jinx's presence... or rather lack of thereof.

What weights the most on her mind though is the fact, that her enforcer is nowhere to be found. Caitlyn expected her to arrive shortly after she herself had, or at least find her on factory's grounds, or even get reports of her chasing the criminal somewhere else but not this. Not nothing. For all she knows, the pinkette can be an indistinguishable human fry somewhere on the-

No! Of all her officers, Vi is the one to pull through the life threatening scenarios.

MIA until confirmed otherwise. It's a mantra she repeats to herself to keep her nerves on the leash.

It is then that the radiophone rings again. Wary of what is likely to be yet another bit of bad news, she picks the handle up.

"Sheriff on the line, what is it?"

"Caitlyn?" Jayce? "Good, we need help."

Oh by cogs and magic what now? And how did he call this frequency?

"I've found Vi. And she needs an ambulance right now!"

…

"Where?"

* * *

Vigilante Jayce is the best Jayce. Thank you UnderminetheAuthority for the help you provided.


	3. 1 - 3

She feels disoriented and fuzzy as she stirs, not comprehending when and where she is. After opening her eyes, Vi stares at the dimly lit white ceiling, her brain not yet properly connected with the world. She yawns and winces at the pain it causes her. That finally wakes her up. She turns her head around, taking in the surroundings. A hospital room, pristine white walls, a single window showing the dark outside. There are two more (now empty) beds, chairs, and a pole with an empty IV bag hanging on it.

Her eyes travel along the line connected to it until they sees it dug into her arm. She stares at it blankly for a couple seconds before forcing her tense body to relax. She had been in similar position before and knows that she won't recall what happened to her for at least couple minutes. She can spend that time more productively. By a quick look at her body's state for an example.

Stiff body, slight stinging in her back, aching jaw and right shoulder. She can move all her limbs and fingers though, so nothing to immediately worry over. Again she looks at the empty IV bag and grimaces. Stiff body stands for a freakish bruising, stinging for either burns or heavy grazing, aching would be an aftereffect of dislocation. It's probably a bad idea to get up but she tries it anyway, only to give up when she realizes how heavy her body feels.

Overall, the pinkette feels like shit. Mostly for knowing that she will soon be cut off from the painkillers.

She puts her left palm over her face and inspects both, one by touch, another by eyes. The gauntlets must have protected her hands from any damage from elbow to fingers, for she doesn't even see any bruising on them, over her left ear she can feel a line of stitches, she didn't-

Jinx, fireworks.

Of course, how else could she have landed here. The last time she actually needed a hospital bed was when she had ripped out the handlebar from her motorbike on a joy ride. Or so she suspects, she has no memory of what happened. But the broken part of the handle had rust eating the bar that must have been there for years. Figures that it would be something so uncomplicated that would break, since she didn't really care to bother with checking the state of her non-hex related machines. Well, at least before the accident.

Ugh. The next time she gets her hands on that Twerp she will... She stops her train of thought as another memory resurfaces in her mind. She drops her hand back onto the bed.

She did regain her consciousness in the sewer system tunnels. She was being carried on the maniac's back, it's hazy at best, the recollection of that. And honestly? Vi prefers it that way, it's humiliating enough just knowing she was beaten by Jinx yet again, having to be recaptured like some damsel in distress is even worse. The less she can recall the better.

"Oh, you're awake already?" the enforcer turns her head in the direction from which the voice came from, specifically, the door.

"Hammerhead? The hell are you doing here?" She asks, from all the people she expected to meet now, Jayce is not one of them. "And what time is it?" And what the hell is he wearing? What is he, on a date?

"Well, I came here with you, or after you, technically," He starts as he walks over, pulling over a chair and setting his hammer down by the wall." They wouldn't let me to stay in the ambulance with you. After I found you passed out cold on the streets- you can thank me anytime by the way. And it's five... twenty three," He finishes as he pulls out a watch from his pocket, the one that is not only a watch, she saw him opening a locked door with it once, who knows what state he modified it to. "I'm actually surprised you're awake, it has only been a couple hours."

"Well, I'm a tough girl," She tries to laugh and fails miserably as she gets into a fit of hurtful coughing "Okay man no jokes, I can't laugh right now," she cracks a mock smile but her mind is in overdrive. What does he mean he found her? Did Jinx simply drop her off on the street like that? After hauling her ass for... however long it was. What possible reason could she have for that?

What would she need any reason for?

"Sure, we don't want our little Enforcer to hurt herself do we now?" Oh how Vi wishes she could punch this smarmy smile off his face. "I'm curious though, how did you wind up two clicks from the factory?"

That's the problem, she has no idea. If no one saved her then it means that the Psycho herself must have dropped her off, not to mention carrying her out of the factory after blowing it up.

The factory...

"I got out through the sewer tunnels," Which is basically true, she's not lying and it's not like sparing herself further embarrassment will hurt anyone, along with one unimportant detail regarding her prey.

"So, judging by the fact that the firefighters are still trying to contain the fires, the mission did not go so well?"

"...Yeah. How bad is it?"

"Bad. Factory is done for, there is not a brick left untouched, and the rest of the district is hit too, most of it contained by now but the damage is done. What happened in there?"

"I made a... mistake, it won't happen next time."

"Hm, and Jinx?"

'Well she was standing right next to me when she blew that depot up.'

"Better off than I, not by much I'd say, but we have a couple days of peace from her."

"I'm sure Caitlyn will be delighted to hear that. If you heard what they say on the radio- ...cogs I need to bring you a radio, it's a shit storm. Factory owner is 'outraged', and many people lost their houses because of the fires. I don't think she could deal with this and another attack like that at the same time. She's covering your ass as much as she can from what I hear, but you're in for it after you get out."

They both fall into silence after that.

'Well, it's after I get out of here, no point in worrying over this stuff now.'

"Hey Futureboy, you've been here this whole time?" She tries to steer their conversation towards a different topic.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I have, Caitlyn asked me to."

"Caitlyn asked you huh?" She replies with a shit eating grin, ignoring the aching muscles.

"Well yes she- oh no we are not going there again! I- no!"

Let the worries wait for now. Vi will deal with them when they rear their ugly head.

* * *

She feels drained and in pain as she applies yet another plaster onto yet another cut. It took her some time to wash herself of the blood and grime she was covered in after tonight's escapade. Unfortunately for Jinx, adrenaline rush she was running on for an entire fight and later escape, seemed to have ended sometime after she hauled the Fat Ass out of the sewers. Leaving her to experience all of her wounds in full. Spent, hurt, but feeling blissfully accomplished, she returned to her hideout in the harbor district in an abandoned clock tower workshop at the top of the construction. She found it walled when first she came and naturally couldn't help herself but blow the blocked entrance up. There is actually another workshop in the tower but it's located on the ground floor, some hundred meters below her. Funny how no one ever bothers to go above the clock itself.

The workshop consists of three rooms total, a functional bathroom which sink she modified to supply water for a shower, the workroom, with a window, through which one could see Piltover's town hall and which is fitted with a worktable, along with a couple of shelves for various tools. And a little storeroom where she keeps the bombs she makes, supplies she steals and which she fitted out with a mattress, not willing to breath in the chemicals she works with but a room away.

For the moment, the bluette administrates whatever medical attention she is capable of to herself. Which is to say whatever painkillers she found in her hideout. Her wounds are mostly superficial but beside various nicks and bruises she got her back and legs burnt in that first explosion. Luckily she didn't break nor dislocate anything, locating a doctor to bully into treating her is always a bother. Right now she stands naked in the front of the mirror and grimaces as she wipes another wound with an antiseptic to plaster it afterward.

The biggest bitch of it all are the burns, which she had to first clean up and apply the balm to soothe the pain, then bandage them. Which means she has both her legs and an entire torso wrapped, she laughed at first when she saw it but her lungs hurt, thus she stopped. Still, she smirks when she looks over herself and compares the image to a mummy.

She sticks the last plaster to her forehead and admires her handiwork.

She looks ridiculous.

Literally covered in plasters, maybe she should have just had a go at it and made a mummy out of herself. Whatever. She tried to clean her scalp up but decided not to mess with the hair, lest she had to wait some more hours to bandage herself up without ruining all the work. For now, she gatheres up the mess on her head into a ponytail and just decides to deal with it next night when she wakes up.

Jinx rolls her shoulders, and intent on ignoring the pain her whole body is causing her, she walks to the workroom, in which she left her weapons on the table. She leans on the window and looks over the city. Specifically, the glow of the fire in the distance. She grins at the memory of the fireworks painting the night sky. But now, the red of the fire is slowly giving up to the red of the rising sun. She looks over to the table upon which she discarded her ruined clothes, singed and torn, of no further use beyond scraping them for belts. She then notices the staring.

"What is it Fishbones?"

"I just want to ask, how are you feeling?"

She turns back to look outside the window again. How is she feeling? Beside the pain and exhaustion she actually feels great. Maybe her plan did not go without a hitch but meh, details. When in the evening she first decided to visit the factory, she first went for a stroll on Piltover's rooftops to stretch her legs before having some fun. Huh, now that she thinks about it, she didn't get an opportunity to eat anything since... like a night before that. Whatever, she doesn't feel like eating anything. It's not important anyway, what is, is that she got to play with Fat Hands tonight. She hoped that the Pinktard would arrive when she first set out on her trip this night, and was not disappointed, she's reliable like that, whenever Jinx starts stirring up the trouble, Vi will always be there to join the fun.

She feels a bit uncomfortable at the memory of Her being in the state she was in. Beaten, unmoving, bleeding, burnt. It wasn't supposed to go like this, they were to witness the explosion of the working hall and then she would think of something on the fly. Yeah, sure she wired up the warehouse but outside of knowing that she wants to blow it up, she had no idea when or how would she do it. Again, details.

But the stirring in her stomach does not go away.

"I feel great, my back is killing me but- heh, I got off better than Fats."

Her friend stays silent for a moment.

"I think you're worrying about Vi." Jinx snaps her attention to him and whirls around.

"Fishbones, what did I tell you about trying to psychoanalyze me?" She growls at him, annoyed that again, he starts their ages old argument.

"Erm... I'm never letting you drag me to the doctor again? But it doesn't-"

"But nothing, shut up. Can't you bother Pow-Pow for once?"

"He's mute Jinx, and you're avoiding the question. Are you worried about her?" She really needs to replace that junk one day, the nerve on him! Bothering her with all that stuff until she starts talking.

"Why would I be? We're one upping the other every night, what's the point? She can take care of herself."

"Is that why you carried her out from the fire back there?" Oh come on.

"That is entirely different and you know it! Fats was unconscious! She would burn there and who would I play with then? Hat Lady?" Yeah that would be boring...

"And her gauntlets? You made it entirely too hard for yourself, carrying all of them at once. You wouldn't do that for anyone else."

"And how would she chase me without them? Dumb ass."

"Or maybe you just didn't want her to loose them? Because you know how would you feel if you lost me?"

"Oh I would frolic around in joy," She murmurs angrily. "I need her to have them. End of the story."

"So tell me why did you wait on the roof until someone found her?"

"Fishbones! If you don't shut up I will do to you what I wanted to do with that oversized potato masher in the snore-lair." Wanted to, she got electrocuted when she touched it. The rocket launcher remains quiet after that.

Well that silenced him pretty quickly.

She gives her nosy friend one last glare and walks out of the room, feeling spent and sleepy, she takes her steps toward the mattress and lies down. Wincing and grinding her teeth in pain, she finally finds a fairly not-uncomfortable position on her side and lets her mind drift off to sleep.

The heaviness in her chest does not go away.

* * *

I had fun writing that one, do say what you think.


	4. 1 - 4

It is nearing evening as Vi looks over the city landscape out of her room's window. She managed to stand up sometime in the afternoon when the drip effects wore off and her body first noticed how much pain it is really in. Which surprisingly is not too bad, when she doesn't move too much anyway. Burns are a bitch but the rest of her injuries? She's way too used to them to give them her attention. Instead she focuses on the sound of the radio, that true to his word, Jayce brought her. As soon as he went on his way the enforcer checked it for bugs that the inventor had in fact been installing on all of his devices. "Who knows when they can come in handy? I don't want my babies to be stolen." But it seems it is just a hospital issued radio and as such in no way modified.

Seriously. He sometimes treats his tech better than people, and is almost as overprotective of it as Vi is of her gauntlets. Which absence she noticed after completely regaining her senses and as a consequence, having a minor freakout. Doctors didn't want them to be in her room for some reason (some or other rule about them being weapons) but Futureboy came through and convinced them to make an exception. It's funny that they didn't argue when he brought in his hammer. Freaking celebrities. What was it... something about the gauntlets providing her mental comfort and safety. Really it's not as much having them as knowing where exactly are they. She does take them off at home, honest! Cupcake used to nag her with the topic but eventually gave up.

Wearing them to a grocery store is a perfectly valid idea, who knows if there won't be a thief to punch exactly at the moment she's there.

Still, it's not as much having them around as knowing where they are. Preferably on her hands, if that is impossible then in the room she resides in. Third best place is her house, she can leave them there and not feel (too) apprehensive. She did it before, for a whole week even! When told to do so on her mandatory therapy session that every member of The Force has to go through.

So there!

Jayce was right though. She did immediately feel more relaxed and calm when her babies came back to her. Who knows what could happen to them, all alone in some gears damned locker or other such abysmal place, what if some idiot were to touch them, smear something over them... and then wash them with an organic cleaner or-

Vi shudders. What if someone put them on. She will never know and it bugs her... At least they are safe now. Residing on the floor by her temporary bed.

She has bigger problem anyway. The pinkette turns her eyes towards the two envelopes lying oh so innocently on a nightstand by the bed. One fat and giving off an evil vibe, the second looking like a normal letter. She was visited earlier by some of her co-workers, they had no time to chat, mostly here for checking up on her and to deliver a message from Caitlyn. They left roughly twenty minutes ago. She clicks her tongue and stiffly moves to sit on the bed. Doctor said she should stay in bed, it indeed would spare her some pain and maybe she would heal faster. To Vi it doesn't matter. She despises just laying there, doing nothing. It feels stuffy and dirty, tiring too. While the enforcer enjoys possibility of undisturbed rest, there is only so much she can actually sleep. So it's either tossing in bed, rumpling sheets or... well anything else. She visited children's ward for one. They do that sometimes. The police (Jayce too), to cheer the kids up. And they were elated, Vi was literally attacked with questions, mostly about her wounds and fight itself. Their minds too young to properly comprehend the grim situation their city is in.

When Cait kicked the project off she said that it's good to remind oneself why they put up with the shit they do every day (not exactly her words). Vi doesn't need any encouragement to beat criminals up, but seeing adoration in eyes of those kids does lift her spirit. This idea of Sheriff's works both ways she supposes.

She reaches out and grabs the slimmer envelope, staring it down for couple seconds before tearing, the paper open and pulling out two sheets. After a quick sweep of both she puts away the formal and starts with the private one.

_Vi_

_Let me start by apologizing for not coming in person. The factory fiasco leaves me with little time to spare, thus I'm unlikely to visit you for at least couple days, I hope you understand ('_Of course I do'_). You also left unfinished paperwork that I find myself reluctant to burden someone else with ('_Oh no'_), given the numbers figuring on many of its pages ('_Please no'_). Because of all this I find myself forced to send it to you with a request of finishing it ('_You've gotta be shitting me!'_)._

_Onto another matter, I've received the results of your examination and as such am forced to send you on a medical leave for two weeks counting from today ('_Ugh_'). I've spoken with Jayce and he relied the outcome of your encounter with Jinx, it's unlikely for her to be capable of causing havoc any time soon and this might be exactly what we need to reign in the chaos in city and expand our search for her, without having to worry for another attack. This may sound a bit too optimistic but is nonetheless true (_Vi smiles at that_). It is also the content of the statement I've given to press, come tomorrow you should expect reporters ('_It's just cruel of you Cupcake, to bait me with good news and then drop a brick on my head_')._

_I can't say I'm happy with results of your actions but neither can I condemn them, if Jinx was caught in blast radius along with you then it is the closest we got to catching her since all this began ('_Only I didn't make that happen_'). I need full details on the incident which is what you are to use the attached form for._

_I'd like you to finish your assignment by the time I come to visit ('_Well you're gonna be disappointed cause I don't have anything to write with_'). Get better soon._

_Caitlyn_

_PS. Your pen is in the second envelope, no excuses ('_...shit.'_)._

_PPS. Do please ready yourself for the journalists._

.

Vi puts the letter away and gives the fat menace of paper on the nightstand a dejected look.

"Alright, then Cupcake... lets get this over with."

She finishes only her report by the time she falls asleep.

* * *

"Come on, don't make it harder than it needs to be." Complains Jinx as she taps the apothecary's head with Zap. The man trembles is fear and finally gives her a shaky nod. The girl sniffs.

'Stupid fever.'

She makes sure that the man in front of her doesn't try anything as he gathers a stock of supplies she listed to him a minute ago. The idiot of course had to try and run, the bluette is not in very good mood, and fortunately for him too, as she would probably decide to kill him for being an annoying coward if she was inclined to look for another pharmacy. They are never fun, if they AT LEAST tried to fight her instead of running straight away. She doesn't even have Pow-Pow nor Fishbones with her, well right, yeah. Zap can kill too if it hits the eye or open mouth but Jinx is in no shape to aim properly. And it's obvious too, isn't this guy supposed to have a medical or something?

"There you go miss," The man says weakly as he places a bag she supplied to him before. It is stuffed to the brink with syringes, pills, bandages, plasters and cough syrups. She doesn't really need syrup, she drinks it because she likes the taste. She read it's leaflet once, said it's somehow unhealthy- who cares. But most important of them all are drops.

"Thank you," She says in sickeningly sweet tone. "Now stay still." His eyes widen but he complies. No fun at all.

She hits his head with Zap's grip, knocking him out. Sheesh, now that that's dealt with...

She grabs the pack and throws it on her back. The maniac feels strange with so many clothes on her, but she doesn't want to injure herself further and bears with the violet hoodie protecting her back. Come evening she woke up, and to her annoyance found herself running a fever. Along with the fact that she barely had enough bandages to re-wrap herself after proper cold shower (Both unpleasantly mind freezing and so very soothing to her burned skin) and that her regular drugs stash had nothing to rid her of stuffed nose. Something she's unwilling to put up with. She can bear the pain and dizziness, stinging is a near constant given how her eyes tend to do that at least half the time. Bones, skin, eyes, nails, yeah she can roll with that.

Stuffy nose is a no-no.

So here she is, climbing onto the roof of the building in which the drug store happens to be placed in. Blowing air through her nose every now and then, frustrated with her unruly body. When she finally gets out onto rooftop she squats down upon it and lies back, taking care not to upset her back. She rummages through the bag, fishes out the drops and uses them, overuses them really.

She taps her foot impatiently as she waits for the liquid to take it's effect. Seriously, how did this even happen? It's not like she hadn't been beaten up like this before. And never been a bit starved, she did take vitamins yesterday didn't she? Doesn't matter. She sits back up when the blissful feeling of air flowing through her nostrils sets in. Then her hand dives into the bag for the second time, pulling out a candy-bar. This continues for another couple minutes as she eats one after another. Finally, sitting on the edge of the rooftop to finish the last one she think on what to do now.

As frustrating as it is, she can't blow stuff up in her current state. She can hardly aim, her hands shake so. And dragging Fishbones around is not even an option. Climbing the stairs to her hideout is always a chore to do, now even more so that usual. So heavy lifting materials for new bombs is also a no-go. Boring. She can't play cops either, besides. Fats is in hospital, it's not nearly as fun without her.

There it is, the heaviness somewhere in her chest. It comes back every time she thinks about that moron and refuses to go away until she gets otherwise distracted, which is not at all long but still. She doesn't like it. It makes her feel weaker and she loathes that, especially given how weakened she already knows herself to be. Not that she cares about that, a little fever is a pest but nothing to shoot her down. She's just a little bit dizzy and uncoordinated. No biggie.

Which again makes her wonder how does her favorite officer fares.

"Ugh!"

This is dumb! Why do these thoughts even come to her? They never did before, she and Fat Hands bat the crap out of each other ever since Jinx first set foot in this city. Oh yeah, she did like playing with Vi, a lot, so it was with anticipation that she awaited the chase every time she caused trouble. Always hoping she would come, and always she did. It was more than enough. So why (she bits down her lip, holding back a giggle) is it that she suddenly wants to see her. Why is she even thinking about this in the first place! She never thinks things through! Just go where her legs carry her by the spur of the moment. That would be like her, to just do what she wants, who needs reasons to do anything?

'There is what you should do! You want to see Pinktard so why the hell not?'

Because she never wants to see people unless to toy with them.

'So what?'

This is stupid.

'Exactly, stop moping and go find her!'

Moping? She's not moping...

'Yeah sure, whatever, get your ass in gear and move it.'

Jinx grumbles but does what what's she's told to. She grabs her bag and looks down upon the street below her feet. Where a police car just pulled over, the store owner must have woken up in the meanwhile. Well then, no time to laze around. She needs to find her enforcer. As she is preparing to make the first jump onto another rooftop it hits her.

There are three hospitals in Piltover.

Each with hundreds of rooms.

Each one might be the one she's looking for.

"Ugh..."

* * *

Yo! Been a while. I have not a freaking idea when will the next chapter be released, I have the script for it but little time to spare. Surely not this week will I even start writing so I guess I will see you in next at best and in two at the worst.


	5. 1 - 5

She never visited Piltoverian hospital before. They are oh so very different from what she got used to in Zaun. So... neat and clean and white, pale lime occasionally but bleh, so boring. And orderlies are very different too, no stun guns nor handcuffs on them, they're not exactly big either. Jinx remembers that they were always beasts in human shapes, two meters tall mountains of muscle and meanies to boot, that's how they ought to look, not like Yordles, what sane person hires them as hospital staff? Now she knows that they are fluffy and bumbly along with cute but still, Yordles. She could lift one without any trouble (well, usually, not now) and that kind of contradicts the point of having them around.

Then again, she's not good at this logic stuff so maybe there is some merit to having them around. She pushes the subject out of her head before it starts hurting as it is prone to doing. She looks around the lobby not really knowing where to go from now-on. It's... unfamiliar feeling to just walk in somewhere and not be recognized immediately. Right, yeah, it's nighttime and no one is paying her much attention in her new outfit but really. It seems that a hood does make all the difference, as it conceals her unusual hair now stashed under the hoodie, she always thought it stupid how Noxians wear hoods to remain inconspicuous but what does she know. Master assassins nailed it when thinking up the idea. Alternatively, it could be the fact that the security officer was reading a newspaper, she has no clue to be honest. But it's so strange! Not one person giving doing a double take at her sight and running in terror right after.

Or maybe it's her wanted posters, they're sooo inaccurate, she's much prettier than what they show, what are they. Trying to insult her?

Whatever the reason, it's advantageous, for now. She only has Zap with her and it's stashed inside the backpack, long ass way from her hands. But it being one of her trademark weapons she can't exactly parade it around in her current condition, that condition being lack of her other friends strapped to her many (many) belts. And legs are killing her too, but it can be taken into consideration later, it's not like she can't function at 100% or above, it's just that side effects are usually not worth it. But she knows her body won't fail her as long as she needs it to work, and knows that it will take something more than jumping roofs for aftereffects to kick in. Like a chase, she won't risk being chased now.

For that end, she probably shouldn't just stand in the middle of the hall and look like a lost puppy, lest someone asks her- "what seems to be the problem?" Ugh, although... heh, yeah no, that wouldn't go over too well.

Priorities girl! Keep them straight!

She can't help but let out an amused snort at that thought, keep her thoughts straight, priceless.

Seriously- focus, just... walk, yeah, walk, somewhere. Anywhere is good as long as she walks, no one will pay her any attention as long as she's walking right? Erm, okay!

Jinx soon deduces that this place is completely backwards, the doors aren't locked, there are no grates anywhere and the whole place is entirely too bright. She would know, she spent... she doesn't actually know how long had she been treated before breaking out as the time meant little in the gray walls of that tedious place, but she thinks it was long. She remembers her hair reaching no further than her bum when she didn't bother to braid it. As she later learned, hair grows rather slowly, it was probably years but the idea of time baffles her, she can't really tell how long is long, long is boring though, that she knows.

As is silence, and it's so silent too! No screeching, no howling, no whispering, just unnerving unnormal silence. Back at home she can at least hear the distant noise made by the clock's machinery, background noise is everywhere in the city, here? Only electricity burning in light bulbs.

She doesn't like it, the sooner she finds Pinktard the better. She quickly discovers that there is no use in checking door after door (The cells are wrong too! All hard surfaces and actual furniture!), the thought hit her when she saw the words painted on the wall.

**MATERNITY WARD**

…

...Yeah she probably should have noticed the damned thing earlier. It would also be a good idea to only check wards where her Enforcer could be, that's a smart thing to do, and since she is a smart person that leaves her with only one option.

**PERSONNEL ONLY**

That looks promising. People sure love their restrictions, for a good reason too! She loves restrictions, wherever she finds them they always mean something interesting is behind the doors, figuratively or literally, as is the case now. Besides, rules are in place only to cause the itch to break them, and it's so fun!

Sure, walking through door may not seem like much, but she can't help feeling smug about it.

Only it has a lock, locks are evil, she always knew it, as far as her memory reaches. Thankfully, Fishbones is an expert at opening them, then again, he's not here. Which poses a question that normally she never needs to bother herself with. How is she supposed to get through? She grabs the handle and gives it a couple experimental pulls, yup, undamaged.

"Just my luck isn't it?" She grins as she says that, it's a pity no one ever laughs at her jokes, mostly because people don't listen to them, and her friends don't seem to find them funny, they're always so serious. Well maybe Pow-Pow but he's mute, he makes for a great listener though.

Alright then, keys, she needs to find keys. Who has them though? This place is big, like big big. The security officer at the entrance might, but his absence would be noticed rather quickly, since she can't just leave him unconscious or dead, and how would she move the body without anyone seeing anyway? It's not busy but it's not so late into night that people aren't walking through hallways. Cogs and acid! Who else keeps keys on their person? The girl growls as she feels a headache building up, it's a curse. The more she thinks the more painful it becomes, the more painful it is the harder thinking becomes, so she must focus even more which leads her to even worse pain and it gos on and on like that.

She is brought out of her thoughts as she hears a creaking further down the hallway. Her red irises snap to the source and quiver in excitement as they land upon a cleaning cart pushed by an old lady. The cart stops as the woman notices the intense stare directed upon her.

"Is there something wrong miss?" She asks, mildly uncomfortable but clearly trying to be helpful.

Jinx's smile turns into her trademark maniacal grin.

"No, it's just my luck." Her voice takes that high pitch that she has when in good mood. The lady is clearly taken aback by her voice and when Jinx starts moving towards her she suddenly feels threatened, like a deer hunted by a human, not knowing where the danger is coming from nor how. Like an old deer too. She releases the grip on cart's handle and takes a shaky step back.

"Oh but why are you running? Do you wanna play tag?" The bluette's voice has now taken another note, low and raspy, one of displeasure and underlying anger. "Because I've got things to do and you're stalling." She turns around and tries to run and scream for help but is not nearly fast enough. Jinx rams into her and they both fall, the maniac on top, she is ready to pummel the woman's head into tiles when she notices no resistance on lady's part. She frowns as inspect her victim's face.

She fainted, huh. Heh, hehehe, your heart just ain't what it used to be huh? Let me tell you, back in my time- hah! Lucky you, there is no fun in beating up the unconscious, she looks for reaction from her victims and there is none to be expected from this one it seems. Oh well. She unceremoniously lets the head drop onto hard floor.

Jinx looks around to assure herself no one saw them. Nope. Clear. She shifts to kneel beside the body, wincing at the stinging in her back, it's not bad not really, just a bit worse than a harsh case of sunburn, she got sunburned exactly once in her life. When she first encountered the sun and didn't yet know how nasty it can be. It's a lying bastard, luring her with promise of warmth only to burn should she happen to accept it.

"Let's see... let's- oh hello sweetie, nice of you to show up." She chirps as she finds the keychain. Ugh, there are so many of them, well better find the right one before someone comes. She takes a hold of cleaning lady's collar and drags her beside the door where she first saw her.

"Okay... not this one, not this one, ugh, nope, not you, nor you... hey lady, which one opens this lock?" She turns to the prone body beside her and waits couple seconds to no effect. Then starts trying different keys anew "Well that's just rude, I'll have to tie you up you know? Since you're not really cooperating, I mean okay yeah sure you helped, so I'm not gonna do anything real nasty to you but could you be a little bit less apathetic you know? I'm just trying to find miss Fat Ass to... to find her. And you. Are not. Helping!" The last few words come out as a snarl and she kicks the woman in side to vent her frustration. It's a good outlet she learned, for headaches, pain and anger. It's like she gives her own to others, since they are always angry or hurt after playing for a bit. She spends next minute fuming, silently trying different keys until she get the right one and her mood lifts yet again.

She drags her victim inside and pulls the cart right after before closing the door and fliping on the light, her eyes sparkle with mirth as she sees a wall full of drawers, she gives the lock a sideways glance and sticks the key into it as to avoid interruption. Next in order, time to properly tie the lady up, she has no rope though and definitely won't use her precious belts, no way! So she sits cross legged in front of her and rips couple strands from her skirt to tie her hands and legs up, three simple knots on each should do the trick, Jinx finds them to be the biggest pain in the ass to unknot as with them the problem is to find the right strand and then have enough strength to pull them. Which is hard, she makes her knots tight as they get. The last strand she rolls into a ball and stuffs it into woman's mouth. Now unto business.

She opens the first drawer and her eyes widen at the sight of dozens medical charts, complete with photos and case info. Well, this will do nicely in speeding things up.

She quickly discovers that entries are arranged by date which leaves her with much less garbage to skim through. Unfortunately she doesn't find what she's looking for and is forced to kick the cleaning lady on her way out of the room, just for good measure. She locks the room shut and sighs, faster, but still boring and she has yet to find Vi. She turns in a random direction to search for another such room when her eyes land on the wall's inscription.

**MATERNITY WARD**

Oh wait yeah that's right! She completely forgot about that little detail, Fats must be somewhere in emergency ward. She was pretty beat up after all, must have scored a concussion at least. Does that qualify her for emergency? Do burns or dislocated bones?

Probably. And if not then well too bad, she's not gonna waste whole night looking for her, if she's not there then Jinx refuses to bother herself with looking any further.

* * *

She ends up checking three more departments before grudgingly going to the second hospital on her list. She wrapped it up just under one hour and still has a lot of time, hopefully. She has no way of knowing when will that old lady wake up, or rather when someone finds her. It was a chore and she hates chores. She's never telling Fishbones. He will laugh his bony ass off if he knew what she went through just to see Pinktard. Stealth is not really her thing and snatching keys from the janitor was something she would rather avoid. But following him somewhere secluded would be even worse.

She is now skimming through folders that should contain Vi's file if she's here. Which with elation flooding her whole body turns out to be the case.

Jinx triumphantly picks the folder up and her eyes land on top of the page. She does a double take and makes sure that it's surely her photo before again looking at the name.

She manages to hold her laughter in for a whole second, making a few unidentified sounds before giving up and falling flat on her back, giving no mind to the pain it causes as she can't hold back the maniacal mirth. This is just too precious. It takes her full two minutes before she starts coughing and forces herself to stop, lest someone hears her. She lets last couple amused snorts escape her before managing to stand back up, feeling light headed and in definitely better mood than when she came in. She checks which room Fats Hands resides in before putting the folder back in it's place. Wow, she never would have guessed that just one word could make this whole trip worth it.

Vi! Vicious! Violence! Hah! Look at me I have a badass name. Oh she won't ever let that one pass.

She slips out of the room and locks it before dropping the keychain on the floor. No more need for it, maybe the janitor won't think they were stolen, maybe not.

She rolls her shoulders as she stands before the door behind which Vi should sleep. Hopefully, she would very much prefer her to be asleep as she doesn't exactly know what is she here for anyway. Without further delay she enters the room and immediately sees her.

Victory! No really she needs to start carrying notebook to write these down.

She's unruly as ever, even in her sleep. Jinx closes the distance and stands beside her bed, finding herself staring. Well she's no picture of sophistication and frankly she expected no less of her. Messy hair, open mouth, body in position she can't acutely describe other than 'this can't possibly be comfortable'. Well at least she's not snoring. She somehow though Vi the type to do, no particular reason.

She's not sure how long she stood there simply looking, content with knowledge that Vi will be up and kicking in no time, when the memory of that name resurfaced in her mind and she turns away clasping both hands over her mouth to stifle giggling.

She bites down on her lip when she calms down and gives her enforcer a once-over, she doesn't look bad, considering. Bruises everywhere but nothing the file didn't mention. Hm, now what? It's not like she came here with anything concrete in mind. She looks around and grins as her eyes land on a paper and pen just beside Fat Hands bed.

* * *

It is with a groan and more than couple curses that Vi awakes and the first thing she sees is a mountain of paperwork waiting to be filled. She gets up to go through her morning routine when her eyes land on the report she worked on last evening. One sentence underneath it all that she is sure was not there before.

She picks the card up and pales.

_Morning viOlet, dRopped by to say hi but yOu were sleepiNg._

_X_

* * *

Yeah! Full Jinx chapter.

I find it funny how I and Miss Chocolat finish our chapters roughly at the same time. Wonder how long it will keep up.


	6. 1 - 6

It takes couple seconds for Vi's mind to start working again. She looks around the room assessing it's state and finds it undisturbed, her gauntlets still lie under the bed and it floods her chest with relief, she half expected them to be missing. Then again, Jinx had a chance to steal them before and didn't take it, whatever the reason may be. Again she looks at the message left behind by the maniac and only now notes weirdly written capital letters arranging into a word. The criminal is clearly not bothered by subtlety, that's for sure.

**MORON**

She feels heat finding it's way onto her face, that tramp... it's one thing to taunt her during a fight, but to sneak her skinny ass into a hospital only to taunt her is just... creepy. Even more so as she seems to have gotten a hold of her full name. The enforcer scowls, there are precious few who know it, Cait by default, Jayce by accident but him she doesn't mid knowing, Gragas and Olaf through rather... extensive drinking and maybe Jax, she's not sure since he might have been otherwise occupied at the time. And now she can add a sociopath to that list. Wonderful.

She picks her gauntlets up to inspect them for any damage only to find nothing, it's baffling. Jinx was here, right in this room just beside her and all she did was harass her through the terrible penmanship, if Vi wrote her reports like this Cupcake would be throwing a fit, it's barely legible, a bit shaky uneven letters looking alike a child's writing, only lacking it's clarity. The pinkette bits her lip as she wonders what to do with her "present". Should she show it to her boss? Of course she should, only what would it really change beside showing that their nemesis randomly decided to visit Vi for seemingly no reason at all. How would that reflect upon herself? The most wanted criminal in Piltover just dropping by and doing absolutely nothing to her? She knows Caitlyn trusts her and would see that as of no consequence for Jinx does not act rationally, but would the rest of the city see it the same way? She was a criminal too once and that fact shadows her to this day, even if no one says it to her face, not any longer at least.

No, in the end it changes nothing, nobody needs to know. Now to get rid of the evidence. She wonders if the girl used her finished report on purpose or did not even care for it's content. Both are equally possible, but the effect is still the same- wasted time, she hates paperwork, she knows its necessity but that makes it no less tedious. And now she has to ruin her own work. Great. Cait's gonna be pissed if she doesn't have this report though... so she has to rewrite the whole thing... and get a new pen since she will need to destroy the one she got to make it look believable, she can't just say she lost it, that would just make her look stupid, she needs to snap the pen or spill the ink over the note. And in a way that looks random too, does this place have a shop for patients? They usually do, with little things like snacks and writing accessories.

First things first. She puts tip of the pen couple sentences above finish and pressures it enough for it to snap, creating a giant blot over the words and in process covering Jinx's note. She gives the broken tool a dejected look before putting it away, it was a nice pen, she will have to buy a new one since it wasn't hers. She couldn't just spill the damn thing without breaking it either, wouldn't look much of an accident. She glances down at the hospital gown she's wearing as she feels moisture on her stomach, another ink stain. Ugh. She grabs a towel from the nightstand and tries to soak the offending mess away. Only halfway successful she throws the towel away to see that she managed to dirty her hands too, thoroughly annoyed she gives up and just wipes them on the ruined gown. Maybe she will get to wear something normal, since one of her fellow officers, Leeroy, promised to bring some of her clothing today, she left the keys to her apartment in the car, which is now in department's garage. Regardless, she still needs to get a new pen, or pencil maybe.

Wait. She doesn't have her wallet on her. Oh that's just brilliant thinking from you Vi. She sighs, can she confiscate it as an officer? Yeah that wouldn't look stupid at all, confiscate a pen... oh well, she will just have to resort to her old pastime and simply lift it, granted, she always was more of a burglar than pickpocket but stealing from shops was pathetically easy, and she means things bigger and heavier than something size of a pen. Like drivers and the like. Then it hits her she must leave her gauntlets or she will be stared at, and they may be taken away if she parades in them around the building. She doesn't like it but she's a logical creature and besides, it's not like anything will happen to them in couple minutes of her absence, hopefully. No big deal, she can leave them here, she can just walk out without them on, just like anyone else would, no problem. Just- just go damn it!

Finally she manages to close the door behind her and feels uneasy right away, she only needs to make it quick and get back before... just be quick about her business is what she needs to be.

It is a simple matter of waiting for the right moment when the vendor is distracted, enter after someone, interest in groups is lesser than in individuals, feign interest in browsed items, do not act like you're trying to decide what to buy, confidence is not shifty and won't attract attention, wait for the shopkeeper to be addressed by someone and just take the item without looking around, no one pays attention to you unless you yourself attract it. Having baggy clothes is helpful but since she is not in their possession and really, they're not necessary for a pen, take the damn thing quickly and press it to the inside of your wrist with a finger then walk out while the vendor is counting change.

Easy, Vi used to team up with other street rats to pull of bigger lifts in bigger shops, take the item down the shelf, pass it to your partner so that whomever may be (though is probably not) watching focuses on it and meanwhile hide another one in jacket, put away the first one and pick something else, something looking to be in your price range then make whomever it is that does not carry the loot actually pay for the decoy stuff, or not, kids do like to browse after all. Who knows, maybe they will bring their parents (and their wallets) with them later. All in all, boring.

Burglary was so much more entertaining than this.

Still, she is a proper police officer and theft is something she fights not actively indulges herself in, emergencies only.

Did she leave the door ajar? Shit, her babies!

She steps inside her room and to her surprise finds Caitlyn inside. The Sheriff is sitting on her bed and seems to be in the middle of reading whatever is left of her report. There is also a bundle of clothes crowned by her wallet and a bag of sanitary items. Huh, she must have taken it from Leeroy. Older woman's eyes snap to her and roll at the sight of the stain marring Vi's gown. She stands up to allow Vi back on the bed. It takes a second before the pinkette realizes she is expected to speak first.

"Hey Cupcake! I thought you were still brooding over collateral?" She flashes a genuine smile, both at the fact that her friend is here and that her joke was not terribly bad.

"Hello to you too Vi, it's good to see you on your legs." She decides to ignore what she assumes was spoken in halfhearted jest. "I see you took my request to heart," she waves the paper sheet a little. "hospital does you good it seems, a bit overzealous maybe but at least you had it written, it's nice to be proven you're actually capable of meeting deadline." The enforcer's smile vanishes as her boss's smirk becomes evident. Oh she's fucked, she will need to meet deadlines before actual deadlines for a month or two before Cait gives it a rest.

"Yeah well must be something in the air, stale antiseptics maybe."

"Maybe." She begins folding the document in her hand into something as Vi sits herself on the bed, glad that she ruined it when she did and not ten minutes after, they both know her report to be useless now and the brunette likes to keep her hands busy, it's something Vi noticed in mere days when she joined The Force. Caitlyn dislikes staying idle, be it hands or mind she likes keeping herself busy, on lazy days that she would finish paperwork early she would just take a clean card and make origami, more or less detailed depending on her mood. On patrols she would keep caressing her rifle in such a way that Vi actually used to felt jealous of. Which is funny considering, she was lonely perhaps, being an outcast in both criminal underworld and in the eyes of law made it rather hard to maintain healthy social life.

It's no longer an issue though, she has real friends now and is glad for it. As for the riffle, she makes it a point to occasionally mention how Sheriff should just man up and propose already.

She would also fix her hat every now and then without it being off in any way. Just to do something with her hands. She keeps it under control when in public, only giving way should she feel anxious. She also dislikes to use stained paper as material for her hobby, which makes the younger woman curious as to what is it that made her work with it anyway. Not that she means to question her luck, she obviously didn't see Jinx's note. That she is supposed to write another report is left unsaid but clear.

"I'm sorry but I'm actually here on business, there is a... concern about Jinx trying to locate you ('_yeah no kidding_'). There was an incident last night where someone who I gathered was her, assaulted a worker in another hospital and left her locked in records room. Presumably after looking through them. I suspect that she may be looking for you." The younger woman fails to feign surprise and decides to just go with it.

"I'm not gonna be surprised by anything that psycho does, well, suicide maybe but other than that? Nope."

"You know what that means though don't you?" Vi sighs.

"...Cait-"

"Listen, we both know that she's out for you. I'm doing what I can to prevent it but if she's actively hunting you then my hands are tied. You know the procedures, no personal involvement. It's not blatantly clear yet and administration knows we need you to get her but they won't overlook it should it gets worse. In this case, the woman was thankfully vague about her description so officially it's not Jinx, but we both know better. Administration too but they're letting it slip, no one wants you out."

"That awesome am I?"

"Don't let it get to your head, I don't like it. It's a procedure and I feel uneasy omitting the obvious, I'm worried about you, that the next report I get will be about you as a victim. I feel like I should pull you out but I can't. It's frustrating."

If there ever will be better moment to tell her that Shrimp was here Vi would be surprised, but now she knows that she can't do that. In not so direct way she was told that she would already be out of the picture if the situation wasn't as bad as it is, that she's needed. And she knows that, who else can match the maniac in fight? Caitlyn is great at investigation, traps, luring the pray in, which requires said pray to follow certain patterns, which Jinx doesn't, she's a mastermind not a brute like Vi, capable of barreling straight through rubble and fire left behind by the criminal, nobody else is stupid enough, as Jayce put it.

Speaking of, Futureboy has been doing a lot to fight the maniac too, conveniently turning up in right places at the right time. He's one hell of a vigilante, that she must give him. His loose association with police lets him help out when legal departments hands are tied, it's ridiculous how he just happens to be assaulted by a gang every other day and never once was it proven that he was the instigator, in which case he'd have to be arrested, for show if nothing else. To be completely honest Vi is not sure how does such rotten system work as to allow the peacekeepers to avoid law they try to protect. At its core she doesn't see much difference from street rules, the stronger forces their rules upon weaker and those with right connections that are useful to the boss are left to do their thing.

This is one of these cases. By all means she shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Jinx, but that's the thing about being irreplaceable. Rigidly following rules would do more harm than good. For an example, had Jayce not destroyed his stolen work the consequences could have been catastrophic, so instead of being sentenced to a Zaunite prison as the other city state rightfully demanded he was just given slap on the wrist in form of ban from entering Zaun and to add insult to injury he is now a celebrity. Seriusly.

Law seem to have suspiciously little to do with justice.

"Oh come on Cupcake, we're not about to go over that one again are we?"

"No, but I can't keep ignoring procedures, if she comes after you here I will have no choice but to pull you out, sorry." Well damn we're in luck, cause it probably isn't gonna happen AGAIN.

"Okay." Hopefully.

Caitlyn seems to have expected an argument if her momentary pause in folding the paper is any indication, it looks a bit like a crane, piebald crane.

"Thank you," she says quietly, damn it, now Vi feels bad about withholding the truth about material from which she is creating her little art. It's still better than the alternative of being flat out refused to handle Jinx but the relief she hears in her friend's voice makes her own heart heavy. She probably expected that their talk would go badly, and it likely would if the threat of the bluette's arrival was still real. Though one can never be sure of what will that little psycho do "For the time being, be careful." With that she puts the finished crane on the nightstand and makes to leave.

"So I guess I will see you in a week?"

"I guess so, oh, right I almost forgot." She pulls out a card from her belt pouch and hands it to her subordinate. "A list of things you might want to ready yourself for when journalists come, I figured it would help."

"Ah fff-thank you, damn I forgot about that too, you know when they'll come?"

"In three hours I believe, and I still expect these papers to be done by the day after tomorrow." She points at the rest of documents lying menacingly beside the paper crane.

"Yeah, yeah I got this. You just worry about welcome back party and I'll do my job. Thanks for bringing my stuff."

The enforcer is given one last smile and is left alone again. She stares at the paper figure left by her boss for a long time before opening the list she was given and reading through it's contents.

* * *

I think it's worth mentioning that I base Piltover mostly somewhere in first half of XX century technology-wise. With hextech n' shit but still far far away from what we currently have. So no security cameras, they came with digital age as did many other things in regards to fighting the crime.

I ugh... might have forgotten to mention that the picture I use as cover for this story is made by Tzumi on tumblr. SO! I mention it now.


End file.
